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What if Walt Disney had produced the Looney Tunes franchise?/Walt Disney Animated Classics/James and the Giant Peach
James and the Giant Peach is a 1996 British-American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and directed by Henry Selick, based on the 1961 novel of the same name by Roald Dahl. It was produced by Walt Disney (in one of his last films produced before his death druing production), Tim Burton and Denise Di Novi, and stars the voices of Paul Terry, Tim Curry, Simon Callow, Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, Jane Leeves, David Thewlis and Miriam Margolyes. The TBD film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, the film tells the story of James Henry Trotter, a young orphan forced to live with his cruel uncle Spiker after his parents are killed by a rhinoceros. James dreams of escaping to New York City, a beautiful place that his parents told him about. One day a mysterious stranger gives James, a bag full of magic, which causes a peach to grow giant. Spiker thinks the peach will make him rich and gets people to pay him to see it, but James sneaks inside the peach and finds a group of insects who have become human-like from the magic and together James and his new friends escape from Spiker and travel inside the peach to find a better life. James and the Giant Peach was released on April 12, 1996. It was a critical and commercial success. Plot James Henry Trotter is a young boy who lives with his parents by the sea in the United Kingdom. On James' birthday, they plan to go to New York City and visit the Empire State Building, the tallest building in the world. However, his parents are killed by a ghostly rhinoceros from the sky, and finds himself living with his abusive uncle Spiker. He is forced to work all day and he threatens him with beatings and the mysterious rhino if he tries to leave. While rescuing a spider from being squashed by his uncle, James meets a mysterious man with a bag of magic green "crocodile tongues", which he gives to James to make his life better. The soldier warns him not to lose the "tongues" and disappears. When James is returning to the house, he trips and the "tongues" escape into the ground. One peach is soon found on a withered old tree, and it grows to immense proportions. Spiker uses the giant peach as an attraction, making lots of money as James watches from the house, not allowed to leave. That night, James is sent to pick up the garbage. While doing so, he grabs a chunk of the peach to eat as one of the "crocodile tongues" jumps into it. A large hole appears inside the peach and James ventures inside. He then finds and befriends a group of life-size anthropomorphic bugs who also dream of an ideal home (Mr. Grasshopper, Mr. Centipede, Earthworm, Miss Spider, Mrs. Ladybug, and Glowworm). As they hear Spiker search for James, Centipede manages to cut the stem holding the giant peach to the tree and the peach rolls away to the Atlantic Ocean with James and his friends inside it. Remembering his dream to visit New York City, James and the insects decide to go there. They use Miss Spider's silk to capture and tie a hundred seagulls to the peach stem, while battling against a giant robotic shark. They escape just in time. While flying, James and his friends eventually find themselves hungry and soon realize that "their whole ship is made out of food". After gorging most of the inside of the peach, Miss Spider, while using her web to tuck in James, reveals to him that she was the spider he saved from Spiker. James then has a nightmare of him as a caterpillar attacked by Spiker and the rhino. When he wakes up, he and his friends find themselves in The Arctic, lost and cold. Mr. Centipede has fallen asleep while keeping watch, resulting in them further away from their destination than ever. After hearing Mr. Grasshopper wishing they had a compass, Mr. Centipede jumps off the peach into the icy water below and searches a sunken ship. He finds a compass but is taken prisoner by a group of skeletal pirates. James and Miss Spider rescue him and the journey continues. As the group finally reach New York City, a storm appears. A flash of lightning reveals the rhino approaching towards them. James is terrified but faces his fears and gets his friends to safety before the rhino strikes the peach with lightning; The strings keeping the seagulls attached to the peach are cut and the peach falls to the city, dragging James with it. James coughs up the crocodile tongue as he reawakens, returns to his normal self, and emerges from the peach realizing it has landed right on top of the Empire State Building. As he is rescued by the police and firemen, Spiker arrives and attempts to take back James and the peach. James stands up to his uncle, revealing his abusive behavior towards him. Spiker attempt to kill James until the bugs returned to rescue him, thanks to the remaining seagulls. They tie up Spiker with Miss Spider's silk and the police arrest him. James introduces his friends and allows the children of New York to eat up the peach. The peach stone is made into a house in Central Park, where James lives with the bugs and has all the friends he could wish for. Mr. Centipede runs for New York's mayor and is now James' new father, Mr. Grasshopper becomes a professional violinist and is now James' new grandfather, Earthworm becomes a mascot for a new cream and now is James' new uncle, Mrs. Ladybug becomes a doctor (now delivering her 1000th baby) and is now James' new aunt, Glowworm lights up the Statue of Liberty and is now James' new grandmother, Miss Spider owns a club called "Spider Club" and is now James' new mother, and James celebrates his 8th birthday with his new family. Cast * Paul Terry as James Henry Trotter * Simon Callow as Mr. Grasshopper * Richard Dreyfuss as Mr. Centipede ** Jeff Bennett as Mr. Centipede (singing voice) * Jane Leeves as Mrs. Ladybug * Susan Sarandon as Miss Spider * David Thewlis as Earthworm * Miriam Margolyes as Glowworm * Tim Curry as Uncle Spiker * Pete Postlethwaite as Narrator/the Magic Man * Steven Culp as James' Father * Susan Turner-Cray as James' Mother * Mike Starr as Beat Cop Production Reception Though Roald Dahl refused numerous offers to have a film version of James and the Giant Peach produced during his lifetime, his widow, Liccy, approved Walt Disney offer to have an animated version produced. She thinks Roald "would have been delighted with what Walt did with James. It is a wonderful film." Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 91% based on reviews from 74 critics, with an average score of 7.16/10. The website's critical consensus states: "The arresting and dynamic visuals, offbeat details and light-as-air storytelling make James and the Giant Peach solid family entertainment". TBD Awards and nominations Release Theatrical release Home media Music Track listing References in other Disney media